Air Quality Monitoring

THE EASIEST way to clear air pollution is to not know how bad it is. This is what India practices—in most parts of the country. There is virtually no equipment to monitor the air we breathe and no system that tells us what we should do when pollution levels are up and unhealthy.

Kanpur, December 17, 2009: Efforts to reduce air pollution in Kanpur are in danger of being wasted, as pollution levels are once again creeping up in the city: says a latest analysis of recent air quality data done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based research and advocacy organisation.

The rate at which urban air pollution has grown across India is alarming. A vast majority of cities are caught in the toxic web as air quality fails to meet health-based standards. Almost all cities are reeling under severe particulate pollution while newer pollutants like oxides of nitrogen and air toxics have begun to add to the public health challenge. Only a few mega cities where action has started show some improvement in air quality but in most cases the particulate levels are still unacceptably high.